Berry curvature induced nonlinear Hall effect in time-reversal invariant materials

ORAL

Abstract

It is well-known that a non-vanishing Hall conductivity requires time-reversal symmetry breaking. However, in this work, we demonstrate that a Hall-like transverse current can occur in second-order response to an external electric field in a wide class of time-reversal invariant and inversion breaking materials. This nonlinear Hall effect arises from the dipole moment of the Berry curvature in momentum space, which generates a net anomalous velocity when the system is in a current-carrying state. We show that the nonlinear Hall coefficient is a rank-two pseudo-tensor, whose form is determined by point group symmetry. We will describe the optimal conditions and candidate materials to observe this effect.

Authors

  • Inti Sodemann

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Liang Fu

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT